New study with indigenous Maya reinforces link between Cesarean birth and obesity

New study with indigenous Maya reinforces link between Cesarean birth and obesity

Amanda Veile, an assistant professor of biological anthropology, found that the size
of the mother and the method of delivery predict child growth patterns through age
5 in the Yucatec Maya. Her findings, with co-author Karen Kramer of the University
of Utah, were published in the American Journal of Human Biology.

"Mothers who have high BMI and had a cesarean are going to have the fattest children
in the village," Veile said.

Veile studied 57 Maya mothers and their 108 children born to them between 2007 and
2014, and tracked the children's growth monthly through age 5. About 20 percent of
those births were via cesarean.